A Good Samaritan was killed late Monday night on the Dallas North Tollway after stopping to help someone else.
Julia Zaman was a 46-year-old Sunday School teacher whose husband says stopping to help is exactly what he would have expected his wife to do.
“I would have been surprised if she didn’t do that,” Nadeem Zaman said of his wife of 22 years.
Nadeem spent four hours Monday night calling hospitals, emergency rooms, and police departments trying to find his wife. Officers finally came to his front door at 2:15 a.m. to deliver the horrible news.
“In circumstances where we have passed an accident where she had actually made a u-turn and came back and made sure there was at least help on the way," he said.
“She was the epitome of positivity, always positive, always optimistic,” Nadeem said. “She didn’t see evil. She always saw good.”
Nadeem offered to speak with WFAA in the living room of his Frisco home: a home now filled with family and friends trying to get him through these first horrible hours.
Staff Lieutenant Lonny Haschel with the Texas Department of Public Safety says Julia Zaman was killed after stopping to help victims of a car crash. Troopers were called to the DNT near the Sam Rayburn Tollway just before 10:30 p.m. after a black Kia SUV crashed.
It appeared the driver hit the right concrete barrier then crossed the DNT and hit the center median. The SUV came to rest in the left lane, Haschel said.
Julia was traveling north on the DNT in a black Land Rover when she saw the crash and stopped on the right shoulder. As she got out, she was hit by a Chevrolet Camaro traveling north.
The driver of the Camaro, Rabyl Nathoo, 48, was injured and taken to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The driver of the Kia SUV was taken to the hospital, and their passenger was taken to Medical Center of Plano with unknown injuries, Haschel said. The crash is still under investigation.
“The accident was just 10 minutes from my house,” Nadeem said. “The next exit she would have been off the highway. She was almost home.”
The added difficulty for Nadeem is explaining all this to their 15-year-old daughter with autism. For that he’s getting help from experts, psychologists, at Frisco ISD.
“She is just comprehending now that her mother is no more. Again that’s the part of the autism, comprehension, it grows with time. And the next three or four days it becomes more challenging.”
As for the accident, Nadeem says he doesn’t blame anyone. He says he trusts police and troopers to figure that out.
His focus now, is honoring the memory of his wife of 22 years, a Sunday School teacher at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Good Samaritan who lost her life trying to help someone else.
“She liked life you know,” Nadeem said fighting back tears. “She loved living.”
Nadeem says his wife, who also embraced his Pakistani culture, was coming home that night from a boutique where she was helping a friend get ready for a local Pakistani community celebration coming up in May.
Friends of the Zaman family have set up a GoFundMe account to collect funds for funeral costs and the family. To donate, click here.